Kyle Borland

Storyteller and strategist at the intersections of cannabis, branding & communications, justice, and Urbanism.

Oct 19 Millennialism

"The Blunt" is a weekly perspective published by Kyle Borland (#ThirdCultureQueen) on Fridays for #TheCriticalCourt's review. Subscribe for his weekly pass of third culture perspective and sass: http://eepurl.com/cxcV5r.

Here in the States, we have a prejudice toward the mere mentioning of socialism or communism. To such a degree that we see our own cherished and vital programs under constant attack. "Entitled," they slur.

The imperial and the capitalist want nothing to do with even the proven aspects of its "rival" schools of thought. The military-industrial complex – as we affectionately call it – can only function when it has adversaries. It can only thrive in discontent.

Millennials have felt the brunt of that discontent. From broken education to a class ladder made out of debt to a constant war, our generation has known instability. What we see on the other side of the Great American Moats are innovative implementations of government. Through communism and democracy, we have watched China, Europe, and now even India, reascend the global power structure.

This does not mean we have been supplanted, although China's economy is larger and will continue to grow exponentially as it pulls more hundreds of millions out of poverty. Xi is a visionary and was just given the powers and status of Mao. China finds itself in a similar situation to the United States in early 20th Century. This is good for us, and the world. Competition drives innovation, after all.

It has been incredibly depressing to get the answer to my age old question, "How does complacency swell enough that an empire can fall?" Granted, we have not fallen, though we may be in the process of "falling." Rather, everyone else has caught up. Americans are reacting to the loss of a Golden Age (1950s–2001). A time when the American way of life was far and away the envy and leader of the world. Now we have partners in China, Europe and India. Those partnerships will be crucial in reaching the end of this century in a better place than we started it.

Our role in the world is more complicated than #1 or #2 and can't be undermined through external aggression alone. For, to live in the States is a choice – for most – to participate in the Great Experiments of Liberty and Diversity.

Every nation, every culture has a stake in us. At one time or another, people from every corner of the globe have chosen to be a variable. To live outside our hemisphere is to be in the control group (or so they like to tell themselves), the "Old World." We see where the Old World has adopted our innovations: modern democracy, technology, and even our culture. Knowing this, there should be no reason to scoff when new generations want to adopt and evolve those innovations to our own.

To change, to create, is the nature of being alive. Routine and tradition are necessary for comfort and longevity, but no hill is so high, nor light so bright that time will not cast its shadow.

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Millennialism: a hybrid strain of 20th Century economic philosophies developed in response to the technological innovations of the Space Race, the Internet, and artificial intelligence.